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Say NO to candy coins!

October 28th, 2008, 11:58 am by Kate

While it seems the candy may have been sold mostly in Canada, it’s been discovered that Sherwood’s brand Pirate’s Gold milk chocolate coins contain melamine, the same chemical responsible for killing and sickening babies in China through contaminated milk as well as killing and sickening pets in the United States through contaminated pet food. (Yes, the candy was imported from China. Surprise, surprise.) The candy coins were sold across Canada by Costco and may also have been sold in bulk packages or as individual pieces at various dollar and bulk stores.

I received the recall through e-mail, which I don’t usually trust, but the claim has been verified over at snopes. Sherwood claims that none of the candy was vended in the United States, but keep an eye out for the gold coins anyway, just to be safe. For more information, visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s explanation of the incident.

Posted in: Health/Medical • Holidays • Safety | Post a Comment »

That stinks?

September 10th, 2008, 1:09 pm by Kate

So how do you show a group of elementary schoolers exactly how gross and wrong it is to poop on the floor of the restroom or on the toilet seat? Personally, my answer would not have been to make the children handle a bag of human excrement.

But I must say, that’s probably a pretty effective lesson. The kids wore gloves. They were told to wash their hands. They were shown that there are consequences to such messes, mainly that SOMEONE has to clean it up and perhaps that’s unfair and demeaning the cleaner.

An extreme lesson? Yes, and one that probably should have been discussed with parents first. But this…

“I don’t know if an apology is enough,” Peters said. “How is he any better than the child who did this?”

… is a bit unnecessary, don’t you think? Or am I out of line here?

Posted in: Education • Health/Medical • Safety | Post a Comment »

Daycare takes 4-year-old’s threat seriously

July 31st, 2008, 11:03 am by Kate

I don’t really know what to think about this story on the front page of today’s Gazette:

Kyle reached his limit about the time his pillow was taken away.

Unable to sleep during nap time, and made to step into the hallway until he could stop crying, the cranky 4-year-old lashed out in a classroom at The Family Development Center at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

“I am going to go shoot all my friends!” he said, according to a written account that the day care center provided the boy’s parents after the July 22 tantrum.

What came next — after a day care worker talked to Kyle about appropriate language, eliciting an apology — was an investigation that sent university police to question Kyle’s parents and ended with the boy’s dismissal from the day care center he had attended for the past three years.

“The officers wanted to know if we had any guns,” said Alice Hudson, his mother. “We don’t.”

Kyle’s mother, who says she doesn’t allow her son to watch violent movies or play with gun-like toys, says he’s a victim of an unreasonably applied “zero tolerance” policy, like many enacted after the tragic school shootings of recent years. But the UCCS Family Development Center cites 45 incident reports regarding Kyle in the last three years and it’s policy that children who undermine a “safe and positive learning environment” can be expelled.

Having been a daycare teacher in the past, I can attest that 45 incident reports in three years is not overly excessive. Such reports aren’t made just for the perpetrators of hitting, biting and other violence; they’re also made for the victims, and are often the same as reports filed for non-violent injuries like falling of a swing or scraping a knee. How many kids haven’t been injured or been involved in a fight with another kid 15 times in a year? That’s only a little more than once a month.

The Family Development Center is within its rights, though, no matter how much Kyle’s mother protests. He scared them — even if he didn’t mean to — and thereby violated one of the policies agreed to by the family when they entered the daycare facility.

But that doesn’t make this expulsion just. It doesn’t make it less complicated. And throwing the book at any 4-year-old who whispers the word “gun” isn’t going to make the world simpler or safer.

I know we’re all scared of the memories of Virginia Tech and Columbine and other such tragedies. But neither of those, to my knowledge, were precipitated by something as singular and small as a pillow being taken away during nap time.

But don’t just rest with my opinion of the incident: Click here to see the bustling comments to the online article.

Posted in: Education • Health/Medical • Parenthood • Safety | 3 Comments »

Too loud?

June 26th, 2008, 2:50 pm by Kate

Yesterday, I found a very vehement opinion on a local blog about the front page of our newspaper:

On page 1 of The Gazette (June 24, 2008) are two little kids covering their ears, indicating their pain from hearing stock cars racing. First, I find this a ridiculous sport. Second, it’s a waste of energy. Third, racing pollutes an otherwise quiet environment. Fourth, even adults should use ear protection in the presence of excessively loud continuous noise. Fifth, and most important, children should not be allowed to attend these events!

Here is the picture Auntie Eartha is responding to:

Too loud for kids?

KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE - Gavin Thew, 2, of Colorado Springs watched laps during racing Saturday at the El Paso County Speedway in Calhan. Behind Gavin are his brother Kaiden, 3, and Lillian Enyeart, 21 months. The quarter-mile track serves a niche in the community two Saturdays a month from April to September.

Auntie Eartha admits that the health of kids’ ears (and eyes, according to a different post) are one of her pet peeves. “Don’t include your children on such deafening circumstances. Dear God, why would a parent want to ruin their child’s health?” She even admits she threatened to call the cops on a father who’d brought his toddler to an excessively loud rock concert.

And she’s right, of course. According to a study published in the July 2001 issue of the medical journal Pediatrics, more than 5 million American children aged 6 to 19 have some degree of hearing loss caused by loud noise.

But on the other hand, take a look at the story accompanying the picture, where you can tell the new racing track the boys (the ones with their hands over their ears) are visiting out in Calhan.

Without the assistance of multiple volunteers, the dirt-racing dream likely never would have come to fruition.
Some donated cement barricades and 10-foot catch fences. Others came in with dump trucks to remove piles of useless materials.
Even the racers had a hand in construction.
“Eighty percent of the work to build this race track out here, believe it or not, was done by volunteers,” Vetrano said. “Every time we have a work day, there are more and more people that show up here and want to make this thing successful.”

It sounds like the track is something the community really wants and really enjoys, something that families could do together as a weekend activity. It’s where older kids might be inspired to learn more about tools and how things work, or even physics if they’re really imaginative.

But is it a place for youngsters, or at least for youngsters without ear plugs or noise mufflers of some sort? I don’t know. Frankly, I’m not a fan of the sport, so I’ve never pondered the question. Obviously, we can’t save children from every loud sound in the world, and trying to will only cause them to experience less of life. So should ear protection be as can’t-leave-home-without-it as sunscreen or a car seat? Where do we draw the line between too much protection (bungee-cording the kid with pillows) and necessary harm (scraped knees and twisted ankles)? Where does noise fit in that equation?

All I know is that Auntie Eartha is right about that photo. When I saw it, I, too, noticed the look of pain on the kids’ faces and said, “Poor kids.” They look genuinely distressed.

Posted in: Health/Medical • Parenthood • Photos • Reader submissions • Safety | 2 Comments »

Silly songs save lives

June 25th, 2008, 2:46 pm by Kate

From the Associated Press:

3-year-old uses song lyrics to call 911 for mother

GUTHRIE, Okla. (AP) — A 3-year-old girl used a simple song her mom made up to teach her how to call 911 to summon help when mom fainted.

When the 24-year-old and 3-months-pregnant Jessica Eaves fainted, Madelyn used the song “911 Green” to dial for help on her mother’s BlackBerry phone, punching in 911, then the green send button to place the call as she had been taught just a week before.

The girl was connected to a dispatcher. In recently released transcripts of her May 27 911 call, Madelyn was able to answer questions about her house and cars outside, leading emergency workers to the home.

This isn’t the first time Madelyn has used a cell phone to call for help for her mother.

A year ago, Eaves first learned she had a condition that can cause frequent fainting and made up a simple song around the lyrics “green, green, green.” When Eaves lost consciousness back then, Madelyn picked up a cell phone and pressed the green button, which called the last person Eaves had called and that person called for help.

So Eaves revised the words to “911 green, 911 green,” referring to the color of the send button on most cell phones.

What a great story on so many levels. For one, the mother’s life was saved thanks to the quick thinking of her daughter. Secondly, the result goes to show the amazing capacity for learning innate in children, and how they are capable of so much more than we might suppose. Great job, Madelyn.

I can’t help but wonder what the rest of the words to that song were, however. Any guesses?

When Mom doesn’t look keen, call 9-1-1 green?

To work that machine, push 9-1-1 green?

When down falls the queen, dial 9-1-1 green?

To get help on the scene, call 9-1-1 green?

I’m not much of a poet, so perhaps you can do better.

Posted in: Cool Kids • Health/Medical • Safety | Post a Comment »

A post-pool danger

June 5th, 2008, 3:34 pm by Kate

When around swimming pools or any other source of open water, most parents are hyper-vigilant. They imagine worst-case scenarios of their children being pulled out to sea on a high tide, or bumping their heads and sinking slowly to the bottom of the deep end. Grisly images, I know. But because of my addiction to news crawling — a hazard of the job — I now have another horrific image of drowning in my head, one that parents who are vigilant at poolside or even our crack lifeguards may not prevent.

It’s called dry drowning, and it happened to 10-year-old Johnny Jackson of South Carolina, pictured at right.

Johnny went to the pool with his mom, and at some point during the visit, inhaled some water into his lungs. He showed some odd behavior (he had an accident in the pool, something uncommon for the boy, and said he was very tired), but he walked all the way home, bathed and went to take a nap. Less than an hour later:

(His mom) went into his room to check on him. “I walked over to the bed, and his face was literally covered with this spongy white material,” she said. “And I screamed.”

A family friend, Christine Meekins, was visiting and went to see what was wrong. “I pulled his arm and said, ‘Johnny! Johnny!’ ” Meekins told NBC. “There was no response. I opened one of his eyes and I just knew inside my heart that it was something really bad.”

Johnny was rushed to a local hospital, but it was too late. Johnny had drowned, long after he got out of the swimming pool. (Click here for the complete article.)

Apparently, this dry drowning is not that uncommon. The Today Show article notes that of the 3,600 people drowned in 2005, approximately 10-15 percent were “dry,” which “can occur up to 24 hours after a small amount of water gets into the lungs. In children, that can happen during a bath.”

Dry drowning is preventable, however, if you act upon the warning signs and get the victim immediate treatment. The warning signs are difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness and changes in behavior. As the article points out, these warning signs are pretty hard to detect in kids. How can you tell normal tiredness from the extreme variety? How can you tell normal mood swings from oxygen-deprivation behavioral changes?

How do you get this scary picture out of your head? I don’t know. I just don’t know.

It’s a scary, scary world out there, and our kids are extremely vulnerable in it.

Posted in: Health/Medical • Safety • Summer | Post a Comment »

Watch your step!

June 3rd, 2008, 3:19 pm by Kate

A young boy was walking around Golden Hills Park in Rockrimmon and stepped on — not a nail, not a pile of refuse, not the body of a dead animal — a pool of lava. Well, not lava exactly. But a patch of ground was so hot (firefighters measured 800 degrees) that it burned holes in the boys’ shoe and caused second-degree burns on his foot, according to The Gazette online. He was rushed to the hospital and no word has reached the media about his condition.

Radiant heat from the sun can cause temperatures on the ground of around 150-160 degrees, but nothing like 800. The probable explanation as of now is that a layer of coal dust caused the excessive heat.

Firefighters initially worried they were dealing with an underground mine fire, but state officials who visited today determined it was a layer of coal dust heated by Monday’s heat and sunshine, dust left over from the days when coal mines thrived in the hills northwest of Colorado Springs …

It was unclear how the dust, which covers one-tenth of an acre, caught on fire, but (Al) Amundson (engineer with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety) suspects rainfall may have washed away the foliage, and Monday’s 89-degree temperatures caused it to heat up.

“If the fire department hadn’t responded quickly, it would have lit the brush on fire,” he said.

The area was fenced off, hosed down and watched for flare-ups overnight, but preventing such a strange occurrence from happening again may be difficult. After all, the Rockrimmon area was built upon many abandoned coal mines, many who operated when there was little to no regulation about coal dust or any other hazardous practices. For now, the city is covering the area with fresh dirt and trying to revegetate, which should prevent such heat build up in the future.

But wow, how crazy and odd is that, a pool of 800-degree earth in a public park?

But our hearts and hopes go out to the singed boy, who will probably look where he steps every moment of every day for the rest of his life. Get well soon!

Posted in: Health/Medical • Photos • Safety • Your Community | 1 Comment »

Parcllub!

May 28th, 2008, 3:15 pm by Kate

I was listening to the KRCC last night when I heard family physician Douglas Kamerow explain a new parenting product that he found reprehensible. It’s one of those cottage-industry, made-by-a-mommy-for-mommies, as-seen-on-TV kind of products which Kamerow called, “a deeply bad idea, however well intentioned.” The idea is that in the modern age of prescription drugs and medical technology, kids may not be soothed by a kiss or a Band-Aid on their boo-boos.

Instead, why don’t we give them fake medicine? Um, what?

The fake drug is a sugar pill named Obecalp (yes, that’s placebo spelled backwards), which comes in cherry-flavored, chewable tablets. Besides being a patronizingly silly name — akin to telling the dog you’re going on a W-A-L-K — the “medicine” steps dangerously close to lying to your kids. And no, not in a Santa Claus or the tooth fairy way. This placebo is a shortcut to a happy ending, teaching your kids that “all better” is only a pill away.

As Kamerow noted, “I don’t buy the argument that a placebo pill is just like putting a ‘Band-Aid on a boo-boo.’ We know it doesn’t make any difference, but we tell the kids that it does. Sure, there are kids who end up wanting a Band-Aid for every possible problem, but I have never seen an adult Band-Aid addict. I have seen lots of adults who want a pill for every ill.”

I mean, come on! Look closer at the bottle (see right). Just in case the kids are smarter than the dog and can read W-A-L-K — or a label — they will know their little boo-boo medicine is REGULAR STRENGTH.

On the product’s Web site, the mom and inventor says, “Obecalp fills the gap when medicine is not needed but my children need something more to make them feel better.” Great. Because when a hug or perhaps a lollipop won’t fill that gap, there’s always lies to stop the crying already, will someone please make the little human stop crying! Kamerow asks, “Who are we treating here? Children or their parents?”

What about you readers? What techniques soothe your child when he or she is inconsolable over a bruised knee, bumped head or other minor injury? Spider Man Band-Aids? A special toy or baby blanket? The use of an ice pack, even if there’s no swelling? Is there any justification for offering your child ~~an Obecalp~~ a lie to ease their pain?

Posted in: Health/Medical • Parenthood • Safety | 3 Comments »

A very serious marker …

April 4th, 2008, 4:20 pm by Kate

Eight-year-old Eathan Harris didn’t know he was doing anything wrong when he colored on his shirt with a Sharpie permanent marker, then sniffed his sleeve because it smelled strangely pleasant. But his school in Adams School District 50 in Denver was absolutely certain the action was wrong, and suspended him for three days for the innocent mistake.

According to KUSA 9 News, “In his letter suspending the child, (Principal Chris) Benisch wrote that smelling the marker fumes could cause the boy to ‘become intoxicated.’” This despite the fact that the boy has no knowledge of “huffing,” the practice of sniffing a toxic substance to get high, and that such use of a Sharpie marker cannot get a person high, even if they tried REALLY, REALLY hard.

Another quote from the principal: “‘Principals make hundreds of decisions everyday based on our best judgment. And in that time, smelling that marker, I felt like, ‘Wow, that’s a very serious marker,’ Benisch said … ‘We’ve purged every permanent marker there is in this building,’ he said.”

Over-reacting? Oh yes. Even Benisch had a change of heart and reduced the suspension to one day. But he still says he doesn’t think his decision was wrong because “it sends a clear message about substance abuse.”

Um, how is this a clear message? To me, it seems like the murkiest of all possible messages about huffing and drug abuse. No. 1, kids will now be fearful that they are being “bad” and doing drugs unintentionally. No. 2, an innocent marker will forever be branded as evil in their minds. And No. 3, think of all the smeary hands, objects and laminated papers thanks to the removal of all permanent markers! No names above coat hooks. No poster projects to share in front of the class. No labels on toys or tools. It’s a sad, sad world, people.

I admit it, I like Sharpies. They’re so colorful, and holding one makes me feel vaguely powerful and precise at the same time. So perhaps my defense of little Eathan stems from there. Or perhaps I’m just sad that this guileless boy was so harshly and unjustly judged. In a heart-breaking reaction, Eathan “worried the school’s disciplinary action might hurt his dream of one day becoming a professional football player.”

Yup, that’s a very serious marker.

Posted in: Education • Health/Medical • Safety | 1 Comment »

Get well soon, Mr. Crowder!

March 6th, 2008, 2:53 pm by Kate

Best wishes to beloved teacher Robert (Bob) Crowder, who is recovering in the hospital after a hit-and-run accident Tuesday outside Palmer High School, where he was about to conduct a concert. In addition to being the school’s Vocal Music Director, he is also co-founder of the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale and has touched the lives of hundreds of kids in the Pikes Peak community.

In today’s Gazette, some community members expressed exactly how much he meant to them:

“Everything, every story, every life lesson — with him, it all comes from music,” said Rachael Prichard, 15, who began studying under Crowder at 9 as a member of the Children’s Chorale.

“He’s the most popular teacher around,” said Palmer High Principal Tom Kelly. “Everyone likes Bob. One student today was talking about how energetic he is. How he jumps up and down in class, jumps on the risers and directs from the risers. He’s just fun to be around.”

I’ll keep you updated on the search for the hit-and-run driver and if there’s any physical or monetary way to help out this injured community pillar.

Posted in: Education • Health/Medical • Safety • Your Community | Post a Comment »